1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to system that allows for the precise placement, assembly, and anchoring of an entire landscape timber layout within a landscaping project.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Landscape timbers are used for their aesthetic as well as functional values. Landscape timbers help highlight areas of landscaping interest such as trees and flower gardens. As the timber itself tends to be a high quality wood that is chosen for its beauty and relationship to the landscaping for which it is intended, the timbers enhance the overall appeal of the landscaping project.
Additionally, the landscape timbers serve a functional value. A system of timbers can cordon off an area to prevent unwanted intrusion by, for example, people or horses. Additionally, the timbers are used to build up an area with the timbers serving to hold back and retain the soil in the built up area.
Landscape timbers are, by design, naturally very heavy and are relatively difficult to manipulate, making placement of such timbers into a desired position with a relatively high degree of accuracy desired within a high quality landscaping job very difficult. As the landscape timbers are supported by the soil upon which they rest, the landscape timbers tend to shift over time with the natural expansion and contraction of the soil.
Accordingly, landscape timber anchoring devices have been proposed. Such devices help to properly align the landscape timbers and hold them steady over time irrespective of the soil's desire to expand and contract. Such prior art devices, which work with varying degrees of efficiency tend to have one or more drawbacks. Some prior art devices are relatively complex in design and construction, making such devices expensive to manufacture and install and specifically making proper alignment of the timbers tricky. Other devices, which have a subterranean anchoring method, only allow a single timber to be anchored at a given spot and do not allow stacking of the timbers thereby limiting the height of the landscape timber structure that can be built. Still other devices only allow a very limited number of geometric shapes that can be built by the systems, which shapes tend to be rectangular.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a landscape timber anchoring system that overcomes the aforementioned needs in the art. Such a system must allow for relatively precise placement of landscape timbers within an overall landscape project that makes uses of the timbers and the system must be of relatively simple design and construction and must be relatively easy to install. Such a system must allow for landscape timber systems to be built more than one timber in height and must allow for a robust number to geometric shape to be built.